Google Expanding Cloud Network with Three New Undersea Cables

For most data centers, getting new connectivity is about provisioning new fiber. When it comes to multi-national hyperscale cloud data centers, sometimes something more is needed.

Google announced on Jan. 16 that it is growing its global networking infrastructure with new connectivity and five new cloud regions. The five new regions include the Netherlands and Montreal, which will both open in the first quarter of 2018. By the end of the year, Google expects to add new regions in Los Angeles, Finland and Hong Kong.

The new connectivity is set to come from three undersea cables that are expected to become operational in 2019.

The Curie Cable will connect Chile to Los Angeles and is being built as a private cable by Google. The Curie Cable is named after the 20th century scientist Marie Currie. According to Google there are some distinct benefits to owning the cable directly.

"Since we control the design and construction process, we can fully define the cable’s technical specifications, streamline deployment and deliver service to users and customers faster," Ben Treynor Sloss, VP of 24x7 operations at Google stated. "Also, once the cable is deployed, we can make routing decisions that optimize for latency and availability."

While Google will directly own and operate the Curie Cable, the new Havfrue Cable is being built by a multi-stakeholder consortium that includes Facebook. Havfrue will connect the U.S to Denmark. Google's third undersea cable effort is in the Pacific with the HK-G, Hong Kong-Guam cable. Google is working with NEC and RTI-C for the HK-G cable.

All told, including the three new cables, Google has direct investments in 11 different undersea cables around the world. Sloss noted that Google has over 100 points of presence around the world connected by a combination of subsea cables and fiber optic links.

"Google subsea cables provide reliability, speed and security not available from any other cloud," Sloss stated.

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at EnterpriseNetworkingPlanet and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.